


Sweet Thing

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Starting Over [42]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The BAU took up the majority of his time.  How could he ask her to come home and wait by the window for him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Thing

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR ROUTE 66! How happy was I when these two started talking in my head again? I love this ship and since canon for them is a bit dried up at the moment I'm glad I have something to get me through.

“What’s this?” Hotch wanted to smile but ended up grimacing as he sat up a little straighter in bed. The stitches were still uncomfortable.

“Its ice cream and cake.” Beth walked into the bedroom carrying a tray.

“I see that, but it’s not my birthday. It’s not your birthday either.”

“I love you, Aaron Hotchner. I love you but sometimes you don’t think enough outside the box.”

Beth sat down on the bed, handing him a bowl. She had two bowls with healthy slices of cake and two scoops of ice cream. Beth put whipped cream on hers. Hotch just looked at her.

“What?” she smiled. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You brought me ice cream and cake.”

“I did.” She nodded.

“Where did you even find the time?” he asked. “You’ve been waiting on me hand and foot for days. You have to help me walk to the bathroom. But you brought me ice cream and cake.”

“I brought _u_ s cake and ice cream. When I went out to run a few errands during your nap this afternoon, I stopped at the market. I wanted to get some things for dinner when Jack comes home day after tomorrow. While I was there I thought a treat would be nice. Let’s call it a celebration.”

“What are we celebrating?” Hotch picked up his spoon and started to eat. “Ohhh, this is good.”

“Its yellow cake with butter cream icing, and the ice cream is French vanilla. I know you're not the biggest fan of plain vanilla. And we’re celebrating you making it through your surgery and being such a good patient while recovering.”

Hotch hadn’t been the best patient but he had been pretty good. Beth knew he didn’t like being confined. He liked to pretend he wasn’t in pain even when he was. He didn’t like asking for help or feeling as if he couldn’t help himself. Beth had been helping him walk to the bathroom over the past few days. 

She’d been cleaning his wounds and distributing his medication. There were times when Beth had to be stern with him. There were times when she had to leave the room so she didn’t beat the hell out of him. None of his behavior was unexpected. She knew her man well, and she was going to take good care of him. They would get through it.

“I know you don’t like when I say this, but sometimes I don’t even know if I deserve you.”

“You do.” Beth nodded. “And I deserve you.”

“What did you buy for Jack’s welcome home dinner?”

“I don’t know if I told you,” Beth smiled as she leaned back on the mound of pillows. “But I joined this mommy blog and one of the sections is all about kid friendly meals that you can make together as a family. I bought some ground beef, spaghetti sauce, a bag of potatoes, and asparagus. Jack and I are going to make meatballs and oven crunchy potatoes with asparagus.”

Hotch didn’t know what to say. She’d joined a mommy blog. She wanted to make meals with Jack. Beth loved being a mom. It wasn’t easy with the long distance relationship but whenever she and Jack were together, she was in mommy mode. 

Actually it was more like family mode. Beth wanted them all to do things together. She managed to balance the distance, the family thing, and her intimate relationship with Hotch like a tightrope walker. He knew it wasn’t always easy; one of his favorite things about Beth was that she never pretended it was. But she would always put in the effort.

“I wish I could help.” He said.

“There will be other times. I printed a few recipes from the blog so we can cook here or in New York.”

“When are you coming home?” Hotch didn’t want to ask. They hadn’t really talked about it since they talked about it the first time. He thought Beth was going to leave the Met and come home in September. He also knew that there were exhibitions and acquisitions years in the works. 

It had taken her a long time to get to this place in her career. He had no right to tell her to push it aside for him. Especially since he was a workaholic. The BAU took up the majority of his time. How could he ask her to come home and wait by the window for him? “I'm sorry.”

“It’s OK.”

“I just miss you.”

“I'm right here, Aaron. I promise.” She stroked his hand. “Don’t let your ice cream melt.”

“I'm not.” He focused on his snack again.

“So what movie would you like to watch?”

“I get a movie too? It really is my lucky day.”

“I think you’ll be OK sitting up for a couple of hours.” Beth said. “Sometimes lying down too much can be just as bad as not lying down enough. I think we can indulge a bit this afternoon. Not overindulge, just indulge.”

“Well we can't watch something that will make me laugh too much.” Hotch said. “That would kill my stitches.”

“And I don’t want to cry.”

“Sci-fi?”

“I can live with that.” Beth nodded.

“I have the _Star Trek_ reboot.” He said.

“I just watched that one a couple of weeks ago with some friends. What about _Planet of the Apes_?”

“I let Sam borrow my boxed set. _Alien_?”

“Noooo,” Beth shook her head. “John Hurt starts coughing and I'm scared witless until the credits roll. _Event Horizon_?”

“Is this a Sam Neill thing?” Hotch smiled when he asked. 

He stuck his spoon in his mouth as he did. It took everything Beth had not to kiss him. Making out would be bad for his recovery but Beth was still allowed to think about it. She was only human and he was so damn cute.

“There are other people in that movie you know. Laurence Fishburne, Richard T. Jones, Jason Isaacs, and Sean Pertwee for example. Mmm…Sean Pertwee.” She grinned, leaning her head back on the pillow.

“And you think that _Alien_ is scarier?” Hotch asked, rolling his eyes. “I can admit that _Event Horizon_ really shook me the first time I watched it; and the second.”

“I do. See _Alien_ is that scare you had when you were 12 years old at a sleepover, trying not to let your friends know how scared you were, and then being too petrified to sleep when the lights went out. Now every time you watch it you go back to that place.”

“You just want to watch Sam Neill.”

“If I want my Sam Neill fix I go for _Jurassic Park_ or _Dead Calm_.”

“Mmm hmm. We can watch _Event Horizon_.”

“Oh yay!” Beth clapped her hands. “Let’s finish our ice cream and cake first.”

“I think that’s a great idea. I love you, by the way.”

“I love you too.”

“So kiss me…please.” Hotch leaned closer to her.

“Kisses and cake, you might be asking for too much Hotchner.”

He kissed her anyway and Beth laughed. Then she kissed him again. They ate their cake and ice cream in happy silence. Having emergency surgery was not on Hotch’s list of things to do again in the near future. Having weird dreams under anesthesia of his dead wife and the man who killed her wasn’t much fun either. 

But Beth was there. She was there when he opened his eyes and she was still there. She comforted him when he was in pain. She even sang, a bit off key which made it more adorable, when he couldn’t sleep one night. She was excited for Jack to come home and for all three of them to be together for a little while before she had to return to Manhattan. 

She wasn’t leaving him. It wasn’t going to get too overwhelming and she’d rush to the nearest exit. At least he prayed that she wouldn’t. Beth had yet to make a promise she didn’t keep in this relationship. Hotch surely couldn’t say the same.

“Something’s on your mind.” She said.

“I feel bad you have to get up and put in the movie.” He said.

“I’d let you, really, but bending isn’t good for you at the moment. That’s not really what you're thinking about though.”

“We should get married.” Hotch said.

“I think so.”

“You do?”

“Seriously, Aaron?” Beth turned and looked at him. “You're asking me if I think we should get married. I thought it'd be nice after our fourth date, pretty much hoped after our first fight and makeup, was pretty positive after I took a test drive.”

“When did you know for sure?” he asked.

“You tell me first.”

“When our quiet spring Saturday turned into a day I had to work a dangerous case and almost lost various members of my team and then we had to plan the quickest, most beautiful wedding in less than 12 hours and you had my back the entire time. You kept Jack busy and away from the coverage. You held me in your arms when I finally got home. And then the next night you were my wedding date. I knew then. I guess I should say I wanted to know but was scared out of my mind.”

“I knew when you dropped everything to surprise me on Valentine’s Day.” Beth said.

“That was before I knew.”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“You're smarter than I am when it comes to a lot of this.” Hotch said.

“Not smarter, just a little more experienced. We help each other along though…that’s the best part. Are you done with your cake and ice cream?”

Hotch nodded. Beth took the bowl, along with hers, and got up from the bed.

“I'm going to put these in the sink and then put the movie in.” she said.

“Great.” He smiled, watching as she walked out of the room. 

Hotch still hadn’t told her about the dream. He wanted to tell her but had no idea how. _Hey, my dead ex-wife endorsed our relationship and making a family with Jack. Oh, and then the guy who murdered her showed up_. Beth was perceptive; she knew something was off. 

He was able to use the surgery, and the confinement, as his excuse. That kept her for now but Hotch knew he’d have to talk eventually. He wanted to talk. He wanted to seek comfort because he knew she would give it readily. 

He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Hotch wanted to be happy. Deep down in the pit of his stomach, he feared it wasn’t possible. After all he’d been through would he ever have it? After all he’d done would he ever deserve it? Beth did and she wanted it with him.

***


End file.
